ISAS 2013 Academy 1: Day 7

After a late night practicing their presentations the students were up bright and early to go through another round of practice. The students worked till they were ready and the presentations sounded great.

The students arrived at the Yanke Center around ten in the morning and set up their poster presentations. They then received guests and family to talk about the mission to Mars they had planned. Students also reunited with family members after their week long absence from home.

ISAS scholars explain to guests their plans for a mission to Mars.

The presentation began with a welcome from program director Peter Kavouras and was followed by a buffet. The audience received a preview of the students' time at the Academy through a video and slideshow during their meal.

Peter Kavouras addresses a full room of guests and student family members

Next the teams introduced themselves along with their job titles and presented their mission which was done in four parts with each team presenting their portion of the mission. Each presenter was eloquent and thorough with their short speech and communicated to the audience well.

After the presentations a few special guests including Dr. Tony Roark, Art Johnson, and Corey Morasch stood and talked about the students' experiences and vision of the program. They communicated to the audience the positive impact the Idaho Science and Aerospace Scholars Program has on the students and their desire to see it continue.

Ralph Peterson was then introduced and he in turn introduced each team's teacher-mentor. After making a few remarks on the performance of their team each mentor presented their team members with certificates of achievement. After their team received their certificates one team member on behalf of their team was asked to talk about their experience at the Academy. This may have been the most heartwarming and convincing part of the banquet, for you saw their sincere appreciation for the program.

Scholars received a certificate of achievement for the program/

The time to say farewell came too quickly. Students and mentors alike felt that the time they had spent together made it hard to part but we will see these students again in the near future.

ISAS scholars will take away many memories and new friendships.

Thank you so much for following these students during their time at the first Idaho Science and Aerospace Scholars Academy. You can find photos, videos and other media of their time spent at the academy on the Facebook and Twitter pages. And it was my pleasure to bring their story to you all week.

--Camille